Tag Archives: natural landscaping

In these days of exaggerated and misleading claims for products and services–advertising, if you will–it is rare to find a company that is clear about its product and does not sugar coat it in any fashion. This sign on the side of Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station, CA sets a new standard for honesty and truth in advertising…

If the above is not clear enough, consider the product…

There is absolutely no doubt as to the nature of the product—and its purpose.

Perhaps this will set a trend for other businesses.

Just think!

What if banks and loan companies were just as candid about their mortgage and consumer loans?

What if cell phone companies wrote their service contracts in no-nonsense language similar to that of Double Doody Cow/Horse Manure?

We are still pinching ourselves as we wander through and around our newly precycled concrete patio. In doing a little research on the Web, I discovered that reusing concrete for patios, walkways, and even driveways is not all that uncommon. To be sure, the material requirements for a driveway are substantially different from a patio or a path. Better to leave that to the experts.

One web site rated a recycled patio project as “moderately easy” in terms of execution. Of course that assumes one knows something about design, layout, and heavy materials handling, not to mention installation. And…there is the small matter of having the right tools, experience, and physical strength.

A frequent question is what to put in the spaces between the new precycled concrete pavers. In our case we opted for wide spaces between each paver so as to permit the use of cobbles in certain places. The top fill was mulch (to color coordinate with the rest of the area) although we could have opted for decorative pebbles.

My wife sought the advice of the Internationale Instituto De Vino Wino(Petaluma’s famous but fictional Wine Institute) as to whether or not a little color was needed in one of the few straight lines in the new patio. The Instituto agreed that a little splashy color was in order and suggested marbles.

Unfortunately, the staff and officers of the Instituto had lost their marbles long ago, so we came up with a few of our own…

We have completed moving back into our newly remodeled backyard habitat. To be sure, there are small things yet to be done–but that is always the case.

What is amazing to us is the visual change created by “precycling” the old concrete patio.

Two “Before & After” collages may serve to illustrate the transformation…

The original patio had nine sections or concrete slabs…

Two were “saved” and the rest were broken up to make the new pavers.

Overall, while the patio area was reduced by approximately 15%, the permeability was increased by 50%. Not only will this reduce the amount of water run off into the streets during the rainy season, it opens up the area around the base of a shade tree.

By my estimation, concrete equal to at least two and a half of the original sections was removed.

Another benefit of this project is that we finally got rid of the “suicide steps” from the door to the patio. For years we negotiated them without falling. However, it was only a question of time if we did not do something about them. The next photo collage depicts the solution…

A huge THANK YOU to Susan Garbert for the design and execution of the project. If you are interested in the technical aspects of the project, contact Susan at Cricket Landscapes

Not quite ready for the “final, final” in this series. However, I can provide an interim report in this post!

As of yesterday afternoon the “official construction” was completed. Of course, there is the usual clean-up and moving back into our new outdoor environment.

Quite a bit of the concrete that was not used has been picked up by someone wanting to build a patio using them as pavers. One load has been taken to recycling and the rest will be gone next week. It was in the Petaluma tradition of, if you want to get rid of something, just ask or post a “Free” sign on it…

This week I will put together a final report and perhaps a few more photos.

…or should I now say our patio has now been “precycled” and reborn as the new patio?

It is common to refer to this process as recycling; however, there is a trend to calling it “precycling” as existing materials were used on site. A common definition of precycling is to “reduce & reuse” to avoid throwing material away or to reduce the amount discarded.

To be sure, there are several pieces of the “busted up” patio that were not used in this project. They will be sent to a concrete recyling facility or will be picked up by people wanting to use them as pavers or to build walls in their own landscapes.

But enough words! Here are a few photos that may tell the story better than I can…

Setting the cobbles

Finished!

Part V will be posted in a week or so and will contain a few final observations… as well as photos.

This stage involves setting the recycled or “recovered” concrete pieces as pavers to make the new patio. It takes time and patience to secure the right piece and position, not to mention keeping the level and grade.

For those wondering what is going to fill in the spaces between each new stone or paver, there are several options. The sand or base sand fills the first half and then you can top off with decorative pebbles, rocks, or finish sand. The option we have selected is to fill it with mulch with the occasional use of cobbles. Perhaps this photo will give a better idea of what I am trying to convey…